The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 89

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 89. Sokcho (9)

“Who is it?”
“You know, that flower shop in our shopping complex.”
“And?”
“What do you mean ‘and’? I’ve told you a dozen times! That place needs to be run into the ground!”
“Come on, Dad. What kind of world do we live in these days…….”
“Can’t do it? Then I’ll hand it over to your brother!”
“…….”

Kang Deuk-su’s house.
Kang Hong-chul, the eldest son, had hurried home at his father’s sudden summons, and his brow furrowed at the old man’s words.

‘Damn it. The old bastard won’t even die, and his nerve keeps growing? What a joke!’

Kang Hong-chul did not care for his father, Kang Deuk-su.

There was scarcely a thing about him worth emulating on moral grounds.

He preached to his children never to covet others’ possessions, yet he himself engaged in garbage-tier conduct.

If not for his mother, now in a nursing home with dementia, the family would have collapsed long ago.

While living with his mother, his father had committed infidelity countless times.

Even now, his blood ran hotter than his own son’s.

With money as his only asset, he consumed whatever claimed to be good for the body—wild ginseng, white candy—everything under the sun.

Unable to contain his excess vitality, he’d cycled through women and discarded them.

In a small place like Sokcho, you had to be blind not to know about Kang Deuk-su.

The ugly rumors about him were rife enough to fill a river.

Kang Hong-chul, a civil servant by trade, had endured many moments of shame, but he’d held his tongue.

Recently, his father’s real estate holdings had skyrocketed, easily surpassing one billion won.

Naturally, competition with his younger brother had flared over the inheritance stake.

The structure was simple: two sons, one inheritance from the father.

But now his father was trying to drag his civil servant son into his personal vendetta.

“Come on, Dad. When did I ever say I couldn’t? I was just saying I’d handle it discreetly, out of the public eye.”
“That so?”
“Of course. Dad, don’t you know me?”
“Heh heh. I know you well. My eldest son, Kang Hong-chul.”

Kang Deuk-su heard the answer he wanted and broke into a satisfied grin.

Crushing some broke small-business owner would be child’s play for a civil servant.

And not even a central agency in the capital—just a provincial office.

“So the name was Han Ji-yun?”
“That’s right.”
“Got it. I’ll look into it and take measures.”
“Good! Don’t take too long! I’ve already made that place look utterly wretched!”
“Understood.”
“I trust my eldest son. How many more years do I have left? When I’m gone, it’ll be up to you to steward this Kang family fortune. Who else would do it?”

Kang Deuk-su knew exactly how to bait his son’s psychology.

“I’ll handle it as quickly as possible, Dad!”

The moment inheritance came up, Kang Hong-chul’s face split open with a grin.

The old fox, Kang Deuk-su, watched his son’s expression shift with knowing eyes.

‘I’ll make that woman kneel before me without fail!!’

Kang Deuk-su imagined Han Ji-yun on her knees, begging.

And he never doubted himself.
He had a track record in his past of reducing unremarkable people to irreversible ruin.

A flower shop owner like Han Ji-yun was the sort of target he could topple without laying a finger on her.

* * *

Tick. Tick.

“Everyone’s losing their minds.”

I opened the stock chart on my smartphone.

I traced my finger across the screen, smiling.

The market had been in freefall for days.

A collapsing coin scattered its fragments in all directions.

Retail traders desperate to survive were dumping their positions.

Every coin index showed red.

“Someone’s still accumulating in the chaos…….”

The market flashed warning signs, yet on the other side, accumulation was underway.

Could be individuals. Could be syndicates.

Wall Street capital in particular was scooping up massive positions in the crash.

From this point on, a few years hence comes the bull run—as if by miracle!

They accumulate stocks and coins by the year, not by the month.

Retail traders, hobbled by lack of capital and weak resolve, have no choice but to be shaken out by their liquidation drives.

In that chaos, my short position account is burning bright.

“Mmm~♬”

Humming spilled out unbidden.

App trading is the best.
All you need is a smartphone—trade anywhere, anytime.

The money I spent on filial piety in Sokcho was replenished in an hour.

“Soon I’ll trade up to a new boat.”

I closed the stock app.
The Butterfly Effect I’d been anticipating hadn’t manifested yet.

The coins were moving according to the charts from my past life.

Relief and exhilaration surged simultaneously.

“People in real estate have a yellowish aura.”

That deep ochre-gold aura I’d sensed from Hwang Hak-su, the real estate mogul of Sokcho.

The broker, Song Jung-geun, radiated a similar hue.

“The contract is signed…….”

But the full payment hasn’t been made.

I’d only deposited ten percent of the transaction price.
The balance payment was deferred a month.

After I’d grown my wealth sufficiently, I planned to go on a Sokcho real estate shopping spree.

A few years from now, the unification issue will drive property values in Paju and Sokcho through the roof.

Though of course, unification never happened before my regression.

But even a crack in the door would cause the frontier regions to stir.

While the apartments and shops that had surged began to cool, the nearby properties riding the unification wave soared.

“This time, I’ll show real filial piety.”

My decision to invest in Sokcho was for my mother’s sake.

My maternal grandfather and grandmother, now resting in the waters off Sokcho beach.

Sokcho has become the spiritual home that sustains my mother now.

“Mom…….”

There are many hidden chapters from my past that I never knew.
Like the humiliation my mother suffered yesterday.

Just remembering it made my blood boil.

“Kang Deuk-su…….”

He was not the type to sit idle.
His face promised further schemes would follow.

The risk had to be neutralized.
I placed an urgent, top-priority contract with Jo & Jang.

The kind of man from whom light scratching would yield guilt.
I requested maximum-level punishment, regardless of the specific crime.

My hands didn’t need to be bloodied.

Such scum weren’t worth my fists.

Jo & Jang would handle it on their own.

An assembly of masterminds who could fabricate crimes from thin air—Jo & Jang.

“I’ll drain every last drop from him.”

A chilling smile spread across my face.

Tick-tick-tick.

A soft touch sound came from the entrance.

“Mom?”

I set my smartphone on the table.
Evening was falling, darkness creeping in.

Beyond the balcony window, the waters off Sokcho glimmered under the lighthouse beam.

Click.

The front door opened.
And the person who stepped in was…….

“Tae-ung! It’s Dad! Hahahahahaha.”

Dad had returned from his business trip.
My father—the man who had suffered an unjust death before.

He beamed, his solid frame warm and familiar.

The light in his eyes, as always, held the warmth of the world.

Thump! Thump!

My reborn heart hammered like it would burst.

The regret and guilt I’d buried deep in my chest after his death in the past life.

The worth of his steadfast support—I’d only understood it after he was gone.

Tears burst forth without warning.

I couldn’t stop them.

‘Grandmother! Thank you!!’

Another gift bestowed by regression.

Our family, shattered in the wake of my father’s sudden death.

Through my grandmother’s merits accumulated in life, I was returned to the family’s embrace.

“Ah, son! Are you crying?”

Dad was taken aback.
Alarmed by a side of me he’d never seen.

I wiped the tears with the back of my hand.

“It’s just… seeing you after so long, tears just came out…….”
“Huh? My Tae-ung is such a filial son? Hahahahahaha.”

Dad laughed it off easily, his guffaw booming.

That was him.
That was the kind of man my father was.

Born into a top-ten chaebol family—a golden spoon.

Yet he’d chosen love alone and surrendered everything he enjoyed.

A true romantic who’d devoted his entire life to my mother and me.

A side of my father I’d overlooked in the past.

By this age, his premature gray had become natural to him.

A man who’d given his life to his beloved wife and son.
Man to man, he was magnificent.

Had I been in his position, could I have chosen such a life?

“Dad. I respect you.”
“Respect? What! You should be grateful instead?”

I bowed my head slightly, conveying sincerity.
Dad Ha Dong-hwi smiled, amused by this unfamiliar version of me.

“Dad. I have something to tell you.”
“Son, something’s different about you today. Haven’t seen you in a while—seems you’ve grown into a proper man. Ha ha ha.”

The habits of a thirty-something working man had surfaced.

I reached for the A4 paper I’d printed earlier and laid on the table.

It was right there.

“What’s this…….”
“You’ll understand when you see it.”
“That so?”

Dad examined the printout without suspicion.

“Huh??”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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